Closures for containers



March 20, 1962 H. w. WILLIAMS CLOSURES FOR CONTAINERS Filed Feb. 25, 1960 INVENTOR. Harold W WflHams.

ATTORNEY.

3,025,989 Patented Mar. 20, 1962 My invention relates to closures for containers such as the small glass bottles widely used in the drug and other industries. More particularly the invention is the combination with a non-removable closure member of the general type disclosed in my co-pending application Ser. No. 828,100, filed July 20, 1959, of a novel cover cap consisting of rigid material fitted to the closure and adapted to be manipulated to sever or rupture a frangible section of the closure.

An object of the invention is to provide a non-removable closure of the kind referred to above with more convenient means to remove the break-away element of the closure to afford access to the contents of the container.

Another object is to enhance the appearance of such a closure by molding the novel cover cap in one piece from a rig-id plastic material such as polystyrene, which can have more vivid coloring and a higher lustre or polish than a pliable plastic material such as polyethylene, from which the closure proper is made.

According to my invention the rigid cover cap is mounted on the break-away element of the closure and in cases where it is desired to reclose the container after it has once been opened, this element may carry a stopper. In such cases the invention provides the further advantage of a more convenient and certain way of manipulating the stopper.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafter more fully appear.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown for purposes of illustration two embodiments which the invention may assume in practice.

in these drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of the top portion of a small bottle with my improved closure in place;

FIG. 2 is a larger scale view, half in vertical section and half in elevation;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view showing the cover cap moved into posit-ion to rupture the thin frangible section of the closure;

FIG. 4 is a similar fragmentary sectional view showing the break-away element of the closure removed to aiford access to the contents of the container; and

FIG. 5 shows a modified form of the invention, half in vertical section and half in elevation.

In the usual case the pertinent parts of the container and closure are of round cross-section, so that a top plan view or horizontal sectional views would not be helpful. The invention is illustrated as applied to a small glass bottle 7 having a neck 8 joined to the bottle by a sloping or rounded shoulder 9. Extending around the neck of the bottle are two circular beads 10 and 11 at a suitable distance above the shoulder 9 and spaced apart so as to provide a groove 12 between them. The upper portions of these beads are coned inwardly toward the mouth of the bottle to provide the inclined surfaces 13 while the bottom outer corners are made with square undercuts and as sharp as they may be made by the ordinary process of manufacture.

The closure proper is molded in one piece of a plastic material which is flexible or pliable especially in the thinner sections but not particularly stretchable in the sense that rubber is thought of as being stretchable. Polyethylene has the physical properties that are desired and this piece may be molded economically from this or other material having similar characteristics.

The closure has a cylindrical side wall generally designated 14 and provided with a pair of internal circular grooves 15 and 16 and the square cornered internal circular ribs 17 and 18. Around the bottom of the cylindrical wall 14 is an extension or skirt 19 which tapers to a thin edge so that it fits smoothly and snugly against the sloping or rounded shoulder 9 when the closure is in place on the 0 bottle. The upper wall 20 of the closure is adapted to bear against the top or end surface of the bottle neck. Projecting upwardly from this wall is a hollow generally cylindrical extension 21 and projecting downwardly from the central portion of this upper Wall 20 is the hollow stopper 22 which fits tightly in the mouth of the bottle to prevent leakage of the contents. As shown in the drawing the stopper is tapered at the bottom to assist in leading the stopper into the mouth of the bottle.

The upper wall 20 has a thin section 23 which may be called a severable or frangible section extending entirely around the base of the cylindrical extension 21, and this is preferably formed by molding a circular groove 24 in the inner surface of the top wall so that no indentation will appear from the outside. The cover cap 25 which may be described as of inverted cup shape, is of rigid material and is preferably molded from polystyrene or other plastic materials having similar characteristics. The inner cylindrical surface 26 of the cap fits snugly around the outer surface of the extension 21 of the closure so that it will be retained in place by friction but the fit is not so tight as to prevent turning an endwise movement of the cap by hand when desired. The bottom portion of the cap is tapered inwardly as indicated at 27 and the bottom edge is serrated or notched to provide a circular row of fairly sharp teeth 28. Ribs 29 may be formed around the top portion of the cap to assist in gripping and manipulating the cap. The bottom portion of extension 21 is preferably formed with an outward taper or inclined surface 30 to provide a section of slightly greater diameter than the inside diameter of the cap 29 just above the thin section 23, so as to minimize the danger of accidental movement of the teeth 28 into contact with the section 23.

The closure may be readily put in place on the bottle by lining up the closure with the bottle and applying endwise pressure on the top wall 20 around the hollow extension 21. Due to the inclined surfaces 13 and the pliability of the closure material, the internal ribs 17 and 18 will pass over and snap into place behind the beads 1-0 and 11 on the bottle with the tapered skirt bearing tightly on the glass surface of the rounded shoulder 9. The square corners at the bottom of the beads 10 and 11 however will preclude removal of the closure from the bottle. Furthermore if an attempt be made to pry the closure away from the bottle by a tool inserted under the edge of the cap, even if the tool can be inserted behind the first rib and groove without noticeable damage to the closure, it will necessarily approach the second rib on the closure at such an angle that the tool could not be made to enter behind the second rib so as to pry it away from the square shoulder on the upper glass head 11. Any attempt to move such a tool to a wide enough angle (with relation to the bottle) to put it into prying position under the second or upper rib will necessarily tear the thin extended side wall or skirt 19 or otherwise deform the closure so that it might be easily detected.

Accordingly when it is desired to obtain access to or dispense the contents of the bottle it is necessary to break or sever the thin section 23 of the top wall of the closure so that the severed portion or break-away element may be removed to allow access to the contents of the container. This so-called break-away element, in

the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1-4 carries the stopper 22, which may be used to reclose the container. The non-removable portion of the closure of course remains in its place surrounding or embracing the neck of the bottle.

The severing or rupturing of the thin section 23 is accomplished by manually forcing the cap downwardly until the teeth 28 penetrate the thin section and the cap may also be given a twisting or turning motion if necessary to complete the separation. Although the slightly enlarged portion of the extension 21, resulting from the inclined surfaces 30, may prevent accidental breaking apart of the closure, the material of the parts will yield when force is applied to the cap sufficiently to allow the teeth 28 to be moved into the frangible section 23. After the container has once been opened, the cap 29 serves as a convenient means for manipulating the stopper, especially since the frictional grip is greater after the cap is forced over the slightly enlarged section 30.

The modification shown in FIG. 5 is suitable for containers where it is intended that all of the contents be used immediately after opening. In this case the bottle 7 may have a rather narrow lip or extension 31 which projects into the hollow upward extension 21. Instead of employing a stopper, sealing is accomplished by a disc 32 of rubber or other sutiable material and against which the lip 31 of the bottle seats when the closure is assembled on the bottle. The sealing disc 32 is supported inside the hollow extension 21 by an integral transverse wall 33. Now when the thin section 23 is severed by the cap in the same manner as described above, the contents of the bottle may be used and the entire closure as well as the bottle is discarded.

It will now be apparent that I have provided a combination of a closure member which can be economically molded of pliable plastic material and which can be easily applied to a suitably shaped neck of a container so that it embraces the same in an effectively tamper-proof manner; and a cap of rigid, more decorative material which can be employed to neatly sever or rupture a frangible section of the closure when it is desired to open the container. After such frangible section has been broken it can obviously be detected, so that the user is protected against unauthorized tampering with the contents.

I have shown and described how my invention may be applied to a container where it may be desired to reclose the same after first use and a modification applicable to containers where it is intended that the entire contents be used immediately after opening, so that no provision need be made for reclosing. It will be evident to those skilled in the art, that other modifications, changes or additions may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Closure means for bottles of the class described comprising in combination, a closure member adapted to surround the neck and cover the mouth of the bottle, said member being moulded from pliable plastic material such as polyethylene, said member having a cylindrical wall with internally projecting means adapted to be permanently interengagecl with complementary means on the neck of the bottle, an integral top wall adapted to overlie the top edge of the bottle, said top wall having a groove to provide a thin frangible section, a breakaway element including a hollow cylindrical upward extension integrally joined to said thin section at the base of said extension, said thin frangible section extending continuously around said extension, sealing means carried by said extension and extending across the mouth of the bottle; and a cap of rigid material having an inverted cup shape and fitting snugly around and supported by said upward extension of the closure member, said cap having a relatively thin bottom edge adapted, when the cap is forced downwardly, to penetrate and sever said thin section to separate said breakaway element and said sealing means from the nonremovable portion of the closure.

2. Closure means as defined in claim 1 wherein said sealing means comprises a hollow stopper projecting downwardly from said top wall, such stopper being integral with and a part of the break-away element.

3. Closure means as defined in claim 1 wherein said extension has a portion adjacent its base which tapers to a slightly increased diameter for the purpose described.

4. A container and closure combination comprising a bottle having a pair of circular beads around the neck of the bottle with a groove between them, said neck having a transverse surface around the mouth of the bottle, the bottom corners of said beads being square and the upper portion of their lateral surfaces tapering inwardly toward the mouth of the bottle, a closure member of pliable plastic material surrounding the neck and mouth of the bottle, said member having a cylindrical wall with internally projecting ribs engaging under the square corners of the beads on the bottle neck, a transversely extending wall supported by said transverse surface on the bottle neck, a centrally arranged break-away element, an upwardly facing thin frangible section in said transversely extending wall and extending continuously around said break-away element for integrally joining said element to said cylindrical wall, sealing means carried by said element for closing the mouth of the bottle, said element having an upward extension, and a cap of rigid material fitting over and supported by said extension and being movable endwise thereon, the lower edge of said cap having relatively sharp means adapted to penetrate and rupture said thin section when the cap is forced downwardly over said extension to separate said break-away element and sealing means from the non-removable portion of the closure.

5. The combination defined in claim 4 wherein said upward extension is hollow and has an interior transverse wall, wherein said sealing means is a disc of flexible material mounted under said wall, and wherein the bottle has a relatively narrow circular lip projecting into said extension and seating against said disc.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,066,390 Cahoon et al. Ian. 5, 1937 

1. CLOSURE MEANS FOR BOTTLES OF THE CLASS DESCRIBE COMPRISING IN COMBINATION, A CLOSURE MEMBER ADAPTED TO SURROUND THE NECK AND COVER THE MOUTH OF THE BOTTLE 